D 603 
.M42 
Copy 1 



THE LIFE STORY 



OF AN 



AMERICAN AIRMAN IN FRANCE 



EXTRACTS FROM THE LETTERS OF STUART WALCOTT, WHO, 

BETWEEN JULY AND DECEMBER, 1917, LEARNED TO 

FLY IN FRENCH SCHOOLS OF AVIATION, 

WON FAME AT THE FRONT, AND 

FELL NEAR SAINT SOUPLET 



Reprinted from the National Geographic Magazine 
January, 1918 



i 

i 



DbC3 




niAjAMiN sri'XKr wai.cott 



THE LIFE STORY 

OF AN 

AMERICAN AIRMAN IN FRANCE 



Extracts from the Letters of Stuart NA'alcott, Who, Between 

July and December, 1917, Learned to b^\y m I^Vench 

Schools of Aviation, Won Fame at the l''ront, 

and Fell Near Saint Sonplet 



STrXKT WAIX'f )T'r was a >cnini- hrlp tlic Allies and llicii' railsc I will 

al I 'riiiCL'tnii L'ni\rrsil\' in tile will- liirnish ni\- srrvices ami \ uu tlic I'niicis 

UTiif ii>i(i-i7. 1 11 \ iow nf liis aji- 1" makr iii\ -iT\icrs axailahlc. If iidt, 

]iriiarliiiiL; ^i-aduatimi in iIk- s])riiii;. hi^ 1 will In- willini; ni invest ilu- ^iiial! 

I'allirr wnitc tn liini thai In- liad Iji.'sI Ik-- aniiniiit nl' caiiilal wliirli lia-. aiaannulalcil 

^"iii til think almul what he \va> tn <In in ni\ naiiK-. 

after !;ra(Uiatiiin. in nialcr that he ini^lit "1 ha\c liccii tliinkiiiL; ut llii^ w urk in 

get 1)11 an iiKk-pciuk-iU l)a>is as sihih as lMirn|ie icr 'i\i,r a \ear imw ami ,nii siill 

]M-afticalilc. \'-r\ si,-i,iio f,,r n. I ikni'l know what 

Tn resliiiiisc, niuler date cit' |aiinar\' J. the I'jlecl will he dii iii\scll". Imi it" n will 

he wrote: lie nl si_-i-\ iee tn iithers, I think that it is 

'Ann s]Hike (it' ni\ heillg indejiendent suinelliiiiL; 1 miL^hl tndn." 

at'tiT I ;;radnated in the spring. If I gn I'.eiiiL; assured that the eN|iensi.s wnuld 

In l'',urn]ie. as I want tn. tn drive an am- Ik- ]irn\ided Inr, he then hegaii an in - 

Imlanee nr iiAthe air serviee. 1 will lie \esii^atinn as in the liesi im-thnd nf pro- 

dmiig a man's wnrk' and sliall he dning eeilnre tn nlitain IramiiiL; as an a\'iatnr. 
t-iinn<jh In snppnrt nuselt. It llie wnrk 

■ 1 •. ■ , 'i ■, ■ 1 -, lal.llXIl) Tim: W I \Tn|; nl' (.k'l' \'l' S|.'K\ICK 

Is unp:iid. It is niereh liee:inse it is eliarit- . . ivx n i. 

ahle w.irk and as sucii is given freelv. '' Mv^'lTS 

"If \(iii want to ])ay my way, I will In :i letter daii-d kniiMiw _'(i In said: 

eniisidcr it lint as dependence nil \im. "\l;in\. iii;iii\ thanks tnr scudiii;^- me 

f:ither. hnt as a ])artnershi]i llntt may the hnnk nil the h'rench h'K ing C'nrps, hv 




Hi.NjAMiN sriARi' wAi.corr 

<.lll]\<. RIMn 111 S I AK r ()\ I'A I Rdl, 



THE XATIOXAL GEOGRATHIC MAC.AZIX1-: 



87 



W'inslow. I read half of it the niglit 
that it came and stayed up late last night 
to finish it. He gives a very straight, 
interesting, and ajiiiarentl}- not exagger- 
ated account of the Aurk over there, 
which has made somewhat clearer to nie 
just what it is that I want to get into. 
Xow I am e\'en more anxious than I was 
before to join the service over there. 

"The more that I think about it and 
the more that I hear of it, the more de- 
sirous I am of getting into the Flying 
Corps. If a man like Winslow, ^vith a 
wife and daughter dependent on him, is 
willing to take the risk involved, I see 
no reason wdiy I should not. 

"You mention the Amlnilance ,^ervice 
in your last note. I have thought of 
that quite a little and would delinitely 
prefer the aviation. The ambulance is 
worth wdiile, I think, in that it gives one 
an opportunity to be of great service to 
humanity, but not so much <;o as the 
other. There will be a nunil)er (if mv 
classmates who will enlist in the Amer- 
can Ambulance Service this spring, Ijut 
the air service appeals to me." 

He then made arrangements with the 
American representatives of the Lafav- 
ette Escadrille to go to France on the 
completion of his college year. 

January 29 he wrote: 

"I will get a physical examination in 
a few' days. In regard to getting the 
training over here first, I do not think 
that it would be worth while. The in- 
struction o\'er there would he first hand, 
tried, for a definite purpose, and im the 
whole superior to wh.at I could gel here. 
I could also be picking up the laiiguage 
and the hang of the country at the ^ame 
time." 

On February 24 he received word that 
his papers, presented with his application 
for admittance to the Franco-American 
Flying Corps, assured him on their facr 
of a welcome when he presented himself 
in Paris. Ift was informed that if h'- 
utilized his sjiare time in a\-ailing hirii- 
self of any and every opportunit\' tn 
familiarize himself with flying, it \\(n;id 
shorten his stay in the Student Axiators 
School in France. 

On March 26: 

"I haven't been able to find out an\- 
thing dclinite ;ibout the school .at Alineula. 



-Vs yet, no change has been announced, 
to my knowledge, in reference to hasten- 
ing up the course in event of the coming 
of war. (J\er a hundred men have left 
college ( I'rinceton ) already to start train- 
ing for the Mosquito Fleet and the rest 
of them are drilling every afternoon. 

"\\'hat do _\ou think of the advisabilitv 
of sto]:)ping college and going to some 
a\'iation school ? Considering that it 
takes several months to become at all 
useful as an aviator and that war is |)rac- 
tically inevitable now, I think it would be 
wise to get started right away." 

-\XXIOUS TO Li;.-\RX FRKXCII METHODS 
OF FLYING 

In a letter of April 3 : 

"I saw in the morning paper that the 
.\merican flyi-rs in France would be 
transferred to .\merican registrv immedi- 
ately after the declaration of war. When 
>ou next see C.ener.al Squier, I wish that 
you \vouId sound him on the pnibabilitv 
of a force being sent to France to learn 
to fly according to French methods. 
Th;it is the one thing above all others 
that I want to get into. If there is an\- 
chance of tliat I do not waiU to get in- 
voh'ed in anything else. 

"It is (|uite certain that seniors who 
leave college now. to go into military- 
work', will receive their degrees. I would 
nut object to losing the work, as it is 
not my jireseiU intention to keep on with 
theoretical chennstr\'. and th.it is wh.u I 
am devoting my time to this spring. 
From the stancljioint of edncitinn alone. 
I think that my time could be more profit- 
ably s;)ent in the study of ;i\iation." 

Leave was granted b\' the nni\ersitv. 
and on A])ril (1 11. Stuart W.alcott was 
appointed a special assistant to Afr. Sid- 
ni'y D. W'aldon, insjiectiir of airpkanes 
and airplane motors. Signal .Sor\ice at 
Large. He immediateh reported to Mr. 
\\'aldon and worked with him through 
-April. May i he went to Xewport Xews. 
A'irginia. }ilay 2 he reported: 

".My first tri]) up w:is this afternoon 
with \'ictor Carlstrom. We were nut i6 
minutes and climbed 3.500 feet. It w.as 
all \ery simple, getting up thert — ;i littL 
wind and noise and some bumps and 
pockets in the air — a glorious \ iew of the 
harbor. 





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THE NATIONAL CKOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



89 



"Then we started to come down. First 
I saw the earth direetly helow through 
the planes on the left. Then the horizon 
made a sudden wild lurch and Newport 
News appeared directly helow on mv 
right. This continued for a little while 
and then we started down at an angle f)f 
aljout 30 degrees to the perpendicular, 
turning as we went. I later learned that 
Carlstrom had executed a few steep 
hanks, or sharp turns, and then spiraled 
down. It ended witli a very pretty land- 
ing, following with a series of banks to 
check speed. 

"Flying, from my first impression, is a 
very fascinating game and the one I want 
to stay with for a while. I have signed 
up for 100 minutes in the air. While this 
100 minutes will not make me a flier hy 
any means. I think it is well worth the 
while, in that it gi\es me a little clement 
of certainty in going ahrnad. I will know, 
if all goes well, that 1 am not unable to 
fly." 

The next da\- he wrote : 

"Two flights this morning; 2$ minutes 
ill toto. The greatest sport I ever had. 
Wonderful work. I did most of the work 
after we got up a safe distance." 

lla\ing ol)tained a certificate of too 
minutes' flight and passed the necessary 
I)hysical examination, he left for France, 
arriving at 1 Bordeaux M:'v 31. and soon 
reported at .\vord for tr.aining. 

w.\lcott's lkttkks homh 

Escolc d'Ai'iatiDu Milildirc. 

./:■('/■(/. Clirr, I'lOhcc. 
I'rii/in', JiiIy / ,\ i<}i~. 
You see, it"s Friday, the thirteenth, luy 
lucky day, and I'm hajijiy because the 
work is going \vell. First, I'll tell you 
about a smash I had a wi-ek nr so ago. 
The roller, or roiilriir. class which I 



smashed in has the same machine 



thr 



that fly with a 45 P motor. ( )nly it is 
throttled down, and we are supj^osed to 
kee]i it on the ground — just aliout ready 
to liy, but not quite getting up — a speed 
of al)out 30 m. p. h. 

When there is the slightest wind we 
cannot roll, Ijccause the wind tm-ns the 
tail around and swings the machine in a 
circle — a wooden horse — chc7'al dc b(>is. 



I rude about the end of the list Saturday, 
and the w ind had come up as the day got 
on. Work stops at 8.30 a. m. always, be- 
cause there's too much wind. 

JMy first sortie, or trip, went O K, with 
a considerable breeze on the tail, but on 
the second there was too much wind, and 
after I got going pretty fast, around she 
went. The wind caught under the inside 
wing and up it went. Smash went the 
outside wheel and a crackle of bursting 
wood. All the front framework of wood 
that holds the motor was smashed — a 
pretty bad lireak. The monitdr was a bit 
mad and talked to me a bit in French. 

The next morning I was called in to 
see the chief of the L'.leriot School, St. de 
Chavannes, a very nice officer. He told 
me that my monitor was not satisfied 
w ith me : that he had told me to do some- 
thing (cut the mntor when the machine 
started U> turn ) three separate times, and 
that each time I had intentionallv dis- 
obeyed: that if anything like th.at hap- 
pened again I would be "radiated" (dis- 
charged from the .school). 

That was quite the first I had e\er 
heard of it, and I was so marl at the 
monitor that 1 coulil have kicked him in 
the head. I tried to explain to the lieu- 
tenant. Init he never heard a word : >o I 
just gurgled with wrath and didn't do 
anything. But yesterday we got another 
monitor, who is a dift'erent sort. 

The class after roiilciir is dccoUct : it 
is the same machine, but one gets off the 
ground about a meter or two. then slacks 
up on the motor and settles to the earth. 
It i~; strictly forbidden to decoUct in the 
roiilciir class. This morning I liad a 
sortie in the roulcur. and all of a sudden 
noticed that I was in the air a bit : man- 
aged to keep it straight and get out of the 
air without smasiiing. The monitor said 
nothing, so I d re (diced on all the sorties. 

When I got out the monitor exi)l;iine(l 
that it was strictly forliidden to go off 
the grotnid in the roiilciir class ; that I 
shouldn't ha\e done it, and then asked 
me if I would like to go up to the other 
class. Whereupon, consenting. I am now 
in the dccoUct class, leaving 1(1 rather 
pee\ed .Americans who arrived in the 
roulcur the same time I did. wlm can 
perform in the roulcur (|uite a~ \\r\\ as I 



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THE NATIONAL CF.OGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 91 

can, and wlio will remain in the roiilriir that night — last night. Four sorties there 

for some time yet. They've no grudge last night with a machine with a poor 

against me, howe\er, as it was only a motor, s(.) didn't get up over lOO feet, 

streak of luck on my part. And this morning I did my first real 

Later in the morning I had some sor- axiating. There was a bit of a wind 

ties in the dccollcitr and gut uji 2 or 3 blowing, so the monitor. Mr. jMoses, only 

meters. The wind was too strong, so my let a lieutenant and me go up, as we had 

trijis were a bit rough, but nothing was gone hi'tter than the others last night, 

damaged: so hurrah for Friday, tlie First it was a liit rainy and alwavs bumpy 

thirteenth. as the deuce — air puffs and pockets which 

require the entire corrective force of the 
wing warp and rudder to overcome. 
]\Iy last sortie was decidedly active. 

July ly. joij. The wind had developed into a bit of a 

The work has been going vcrv well breeze, which is to a Bleriot like a rough 

since la>t 1 wrote you. which was only sea to a rowboat. Two or three times I 

two nr three da_\ s ago. I told you about got a puff that tipped the machine way 

at last leaving the blessed roulcur: I o\er — put the controls o\er as far as I 

never was so relie\'ed in my life. could and waited. It seemed a minute 

The first evening in the dccoUct class liefore she straightened. The trouble was 
I was requisitioned to turn tails, and the tjiat the machine was climbing and there- 
morning after there was too much wind fore not going very fast. If I had /'/(///af, 
to work. The dccoUci is the one where it would have corrected quicker. 



R.A.PID .\D\'AXCKMKXT AT TIIi: I'RKXCII 
SCHOOL 



\r)\AX'i' \r,i.;s of ttik i;li:rio'i' TRAixiNr. 



you go up J or 3 meters and settle down 

by cutting speed. The first time I had 

three sorties in the wind, bounced around I had no trouble at all in making the 

a lot, but did no damage. landing. Hopping out of the machine, I 

The next time was" first thing in the saw the head monitor rushing over tu :\Ir. 
morning. Two meters up on the first — Moses on the double, shouting volubly in 
four or five on the fifth — strictly against French and lierating him severely. I 
orders. I e\-en had to pique — point the gathered that he had been w.atching my 
machine toward the ground — a little, maneuvers, expecting sumelhing to fail 
which is not at all coiinnc i! font in the e\ery instant, and that he <trcnuonsl\ ob- 
dccollct. If I had smashed while doing jected to Moses' letting me go iqi. WOrk 
more than I was told to, there would have sto|iped there for the morning, and it was 
been a lot of trouble : as it was, nn objec- \ery fully explained to me what the trou- 
tion, and the monitor perscjually con- ble was. If I have some sorties there to- 
ducted me to the pique cla^s with a \ er\' night, I go to tour du j^istc ( ll\ing field) 
nice i-ecomiuendation. in the morning. I tuaybenn Xienpurt in 

Xow thcj-e are two piqnc classes: one two weeks, 
with a pisti-. al)OUt one-fourth of a mile I am now Ijeginning to see the ad\an- 

long, in which one is sujiposed to du littli- tages of the P.leriot training. There is a 

more than dccidlct. get up abiuit 5 meters great deal of preliminary work on or near 

and pique a tout petit peu — hardl)' at all. the ground. In all other a\'iation train- 

.■\fter comes the advanced pique, with a ing, such as at Xewport News, on ]ier 

much longi'r piste, on which one can get cent of the W"rk is in making landings — 

up too meters (300 feet). in iii(|UL-ing down, redressing at the 

On mv first sortie in the pique. I was proper moment and m;d<ing gradurd con- 
told to roll on the ground all the way: so, nections with the earth, 
continuing mv policv, did a low deeoHet. 1 ha\en't made a really bad landing yet. 
Xext I \vas sup|iosed to do a _'-meter and the reason is that I have been in a 
deeollet. so went up ten and piijued. llad ni.uln'ne -^o nuich on ;md near the ground 
ten sorties in that class one morning, that 1 \vdw sort of dexeloped a sense or 
getting as high as I could — about 20 me- feel of it. anrl .almost autoiuaticallv rc- 
ters — and went to the advanced piijtte dress correctl\- and settle easily: aUo I 



92 



THK NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



can tell iirclly closely what is flying speed 
because of the work on the rollers. It"s 
the same way with all the other students, 
only I know it now from my own ex- 
perience. 

And this morning I began to realize 
that my lOO minutes at Newport News 
was invaluable. I not only found out 
some of the tricks of a master hand 
(Carlstrom), but also developed a bit of 
confidence in the air, and air sense, with- 
out which I could have gotten into trouble 
this morning. 

My bumpy ride this morning is abso- 
lutely invaluable. I'll probably never 
have so much trouble in the air again, be- 
cause a fast machine, or even a I]leriot 
with a good motor, would hardly have 
noticed those puffs. It was a bit risky, I 
guess, or the head monitor would not 
have been worried ; but now that it's over 
I know a lot more. 

.\ FLYER IX .\ BE.AN P.\TCH 

August .'5, /p/7. 

I started for my altitude test three 
days ago. The requirement is one hour 
above 2,000 meters. I got to 1,950 meters 
and one cylinder refused to fire, so I 
was forced to come down. 

The next morning I tried again ; got 
to 900 meters and the magneto ceased to 
function, thereby stopping all progress. 
I glifled towards home, but didn't have 
quite the height to make the piste, so had 
to land in a near-by field, just dodging 
a potato patch. A flock of curious sheep 
came around and carefully examined the 
machine, getting mixcfl up in the wires 
of the open tail construction and leaving 
considerable wool thereon. 

When the mechanics eventually got 
the motor going, I started off; didn't 
.get quite in the air before the motor went 
bad, and then I ran into a bean patch, 
gathering about a bushel of beans with 
tlie same tail wires. Yesterday morning 
I tried again : climbed to 2,000 in 14 min- 
utes and to ,-^.500 meters (11,500 feet) 
in 40 minutes. 

I went up through some light clouds, 
and when I got to 3,500, the top of my 
recording barograph, more clouds had 
formed and I was practically shut off 
from the earth, nothing but a sea of 



clouds below me — a very beautiful sight. 
(Jne other machine was in sight, far be- 
low me, but on top of the clouds. 

Not wanting to get lost, I came down 
through the clouds and stayed out my 
hour, just above 2,000 and below the 
clouds, where the air was very mncl: 
churned up, keeping me very busy. Just 
as soon as the time was up I came down, 
with a pair of chilled feet, making the 
2,000 meters in five minutes to the 
ground. No work since then on account 
of bad weather. 

This morning I attended my first Cath- 
olic funeral, that of the commandant of 
the school, who was the victim of a mid- 
air collision, a very unusual accident. 
The other machine got down safely, 
though badly smashed. Everybody in 
camp attended the funeral in the chapel 
of the artillery camp next door. I under- 
stood none of the service, but the music 
by a tenor and a 'cello was excellent. 
While the cortege was going down the 
hill to the cemetery, a Nieuport circled 
overhead very low for half an hour or 
more and dropped a wreath. It was a 
very impressive ceremon\% 

I e.xpect to start on triangles and petits 
voyages in a few days. When they are 
done, I \\\\\ be a breveted flyer in the 
French army. Then comes perfeetionnc 
work and acrobacy ; so it will be quite 
a while yet for me. 

Tlir: WILD MAN IX THE XIEITORT 

Septonhcr I. /p/7 

The wild man in the Nieuport was out 
again this morning giving some one a 
joy ride. There is a long straight stretch 
of roail in front of our piste and he 
came down that several times, a nasty, 
puffy wind blowing which bothered him 
not at all, flying only two or three feet 
oft' the .ground. 

In front of the piste is a telephone wire 
crossing the road. He came along the 
road 100 miles an hour until almost on 
top of the wire, and jum])ed up just in 
lime to clear it by a few feet — really 
beautiful work. He goes all over the 
surrounding country flying low. hopping 
over trees and houses — sometimes turn- 
ing up sideways to slip between two trees 
a bit too close tocfether to flv throusrh — 



THE NATIOXAL GEOGRAPHIC I\IAGAZ!XE 



93 



sometimes dragging a 
wing througii t It e 
space between a cn- 
jilc iif hangars nr (Id- 
ing vertical \iragcs 
jn^l in frcint of tliein. 

It doesn't seem pos- 
sible that any man can 
lie so much a part of 
his machine, can be so 
consistently accurate 
that he ne\er misses. 
For this chap, Lu- 
luiere, has ne\ er h;id 
a smash. 

A ch.ap n a m e d 
l.nughr.an started (ill 
on line of bis lirexct 
\ o\ ag'es a few days 
before 1 got ready fur 
lire\et. i le got i|nite 
;i wa\s along, ran intd 
a stiirm, went ,'ibo\ e 
it. gilt caught in a 
cloud. Ivept iin tor 
quite a lung wa\. be- 
ing drifted b\- a strung 
wind, tlien came iliiwn 
through the cliiuils 
and fnuni.l that they 
were iinl\- 400 feet 
abii\e the ground. 

After .a \\dnle In- 
found a place In land 
and came di i\\ n safely. 
lie went tu a farm- 
house, got his niachine 
guarded a.nd lied 
down. In ihe mean- 
time, \\ I ird had spread 
ii\ er ibe ciinntr\ side 
that ;in a\ i.ator h.ad 
cnnie diiun there and 

the entire pi i]iulali(in c.atne mU In Imi 
him ii\ er. 




Ptii>tMirra!>h liy Western Xe\v?paper Uni'^ii 

sfif IX rsi: iiv Till-. f.\iTi:D sT.\Ti:s .\i;mv .\vi.\toi;s 

'J'lie aiinian canii.it In elail tmi u.iniilv. Recently in an .lUitude 
lli?,'lit ,Tn It.iliau aviator. Lieiileiiant Guiiln (.aiidi. cncmintfreil .1 tcm- 
1" r.itiire nf S'l) de.itroes liclow zero at a height of 10,750 feet. Init he 
oonlinneil in iiimint .•inotlier mile. 



Wbeiiexcr he' i\eiil ti> Ihe lillle tnwn 

in the vicinity, all the kuK fiilliiwcl him 

.\ grand ei|ui])age ilro\e up with a arimnd the streets: and when at last he 

Ci.iunt vJ.io lixed in a ne.ir-liy ch.Ueau. lelt he was presented witli a multitude 

lie insisted tjiat I'a.ldie come to the cha- nt biiui|Uets .md had In kiss e.ach .and 

teau ;ind acce]it tiieir hnspiiality. There e\er\' dniinr. Me brought b.ick pictures 

the fnrtunate bal stayed live days — the ol tile chateau — a dcdigbtflll-Ii inking old 

Countess talked h'ngiisb. ,iiid .iNn some pkice — and niimernns addresses. 

honse-ifuests. I ie hadn't bruuiiht a trunk, 

, •■ , - , , 1 III. MKsi t KllSs-Cln^\■rK^ ri.nair 
sii liorrowed razor, etc.. Irom the Count — 

went down tn see the machine every day Scptciuhcr /, l<.)i~. 

in the barnni.al b.irouche. At Last tile two weeks nf wind .and 




STrili:X'l' AMI I XSTRl'Cri NG .WIATdK 



MAKING N()Ti:S m- 1-1;aTS 01* MKX 1\ TlIK ATI; 



The aTiiniiin oi .k tual ll\in.t; liiiu- allnttril [>• a >UuKnt aviator at a trainui:,; >chiii>l is 
ci'injiaratix i-l) Itru-f. A maji'i' porliMii "! lii> instriu'tii iii i^ dcrixrd t'roin waliiini;; llii-: niist^ik^'^ 
lit' iitluis and in linng t<i1cl linw to renu'dx liis own (k-fn-ts. carrl'>ill\' ncitcd liy cxixris wliilr 
lie is "iiii." 



rain has ccasccl ami imw it is pcrlect 
wcalhcf — a bit of a bixx-zc and lots of 
still for till,' last two (la\s. Yesterdav 
iiioriiiii!;- tluTi.- wi-rcn't iiiotigli machines 
to go around, so 1 did not work, mak- 
ing the ciglith consecutive day I hadn't 
ste])pe(l in a machine. 

Last evening I, at last and with much 
rejoicing, started out on my "maiden 
vovage" to another school about <>o kilo- 
meters away (37.5 miles). It was de- 
lightfully easy — nothing to do but climb 
_> or 3 thousand feet and just sil there 
.•\nd w.atcli the country unfold, c imp.aring 



the map-like surtace of the earth spread 
out below with the map in the machine. 
In good weather it is very easy to follow, 
spot roads, towns, wooils. rivers, and 
bridges. Railroad tracks get lost at high 
altitudes and are harder to find anyway. 
( )ne has to keep an eye open for a 
l>lace to land within gliding distance in 
case of a paniic ;ilw;iys ; but the country 
is so flat and so miicli cultivated around 
here that it is absurdly simple. I en- 
deavored always to keej) some pleasant- 
looking house or chateau in range in case 
I if trouble, for the French are jiroverb- 



94 



THE XATIOXAL GEOGKAnilC M_\GAZIXR 



95 



iaily hospitable to aviators cit piiiiiic 
(lying to, descending). 

Coming back yesterday evening, the 
sun was pretty low and the air al)solutely 
calm — nothing but the drone of the motor 
and the wind : the only movements neces- 
sary an occasional slight pressure on the 
joy-stick to one side or the other to keep 
the proper direction. I came very nearh- 
going to sleep, it was so ])eaceful up 
there ; several times closed my eyes and 
swayed a liit. 

As a matter of fact, one is perfectly 
safe at that altitude — anything over a 
thousand feet — because the machine. ;it 
least this particular type, won't get into 
any position from which one cannot get 
it out within 200 meters at most. Rut 
nevertheless I haven't tried any im- 
promptu falls as }'et. 

This morning I repeated the same 
identical performance, because for some 
reason we have to do two "pctits voy- 
ages," and had much the same kind of 
a time as yesterday. On the way home 
one cylinder quit its job and threw oil 
instead, covering me from liead to foot 
and clouding up my goggles so I had 
til wipe them off aljout every minute. 
When I got back the mechanics decided 
that that motor had died of old age and 
would have to be repaired, so I am again 
without a machine. 

Have watched a beautiful afternoon 
pass by from the barracks, when with- 
out my luck I'd be working. But with 
a machine and weather I can be finished 
tomorrow ; two triangles to do, about 200 
kilometers C125 miles') each, and I can 
do one in the morm'ng and the other in 
the evening ami then I'm breveted. Per- 
ha]is 1)V dav after tomorrow I'll start 
pcyfcctio)inc on Xieuport. I hope so. 

FLVixc. ix .\ xii:rrriRT 

September 0. 10 1 J. 
Since iV.y last to father, I have had 
some \er\- interesting times. First, I tin- 
ished m\- lire\ et with very little excite- 
ment, made all my xoyages. ;md only got 
lost a little bit once. Then I saw two ma- 
chines on the ground in a field, made a 
rather dramatic spiral and steeply banked 
descent nn'dst a crowd of \illagers. and 
got awav with it : then found that the 



machines belonged to two monitors who 
were bringing them from I';iris .and had 
elTected a paiiiie de elialeaii. 

I'lcins: demanded what 1 was doinsj. I 
fortunately found a sjiark plug on the 
burn and got that repaired, and "alley 
oop!" The rest of it was very easy — a 
bit of fixing in the rain which stings the 
face a bit. but is not bad otherwise. 

Since I have been on the Xieuport. 
There are three sizes of machines on 
which one is trained, starling with the 
larger double-command and going to the 
smallest. At Pan we got another even 
smaller, about as big as a half a minute. 
I^'our times I went out without .a ride — 
bad weather, crowded class, and hurted 
machines: the same old stoiw. 

Then last night I hail nn first rides 
with a monitor wlm is rather oldish, 
crabbed, and new at his joli — ;i brand- 
new aviator. As you know, when an air 
pla)ie takes a turn, it doe^ not rem.ain 
horizontal, but hanks up — cdimiie ea (if 
you can interpret th.it illustration : it 
shows signs of remark.ihle imaginative 

power). .Ilors, one b.anks to 

( trees ), takes a turn, and uses the rudder 
only a very little Iiecause the machine 
turns along when b.anked. There is a 
siirt of falling-out feeling the first few- 
times, until one becomes a part of the 
m.aclnne. 

To get back to the story : This monitor 
does not like to bank his machine, and 
sort of sidles round the corners, keeping 
it qm'te flat and almost slip|iing out to the 
outside of the turn. T have done many 
fool things in a machine and made many 
nnslakes, Init nexcr h;i\e I been so scared 
in .anything in my life as when riding 
with this monitor. .\ monitor is sup- 
posed til Kt the |iui)il dri\e as much .a'^ 
he is able, but this bird never let me make 
a move, and when we got through told 
me I was too brutal. 

I was never madder in my life and 
cursed nice .American cuss -words ,all the 
way home. There's a 15-kilo ride in a 
seatless tractor l)ack to camp to improve 
;i bad humor. 

"TIIK M \nnKST MAX I KV'KR S\w" 

Well, this morning I saw some more 
rides impending and didn't like it, so 



yo 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



asked the clicf dc piste to put me with 
aiiotlier monitor, lie liad to know why, 
and I retjistcred my kick, which practi- 
cally said that tlie first monitor didn't 
know his Inisiness and couldn't drive ; 
that I was scared to ride with him. The 
chef was a bit sarcastic, and told me to 
take two rides with another monitor to 
show how / could make a viracic. I did 
it the way I've been accustomed to ; made 
a fairly short turn. When we got down, 
the monitor said. "Eclatante" (Am. 
"stunning"), or something like that, to 
the chef. 

The chef had meanwhile communi- 
cated my complaint to the first monitor, 
and he was the maddest man I ever saw. 
Demanded what "ce type la." indicating 
me. wanted : said the rirar/es I had just 
made were dangcrousiv banked (the 
monitor I was with didn't mind, though). 
;ind then all three started arguing at once 
at me and I spelled all the French I knew. 

Then, of all things, the lieutenant, with- 
out further remarks, said I was to con- 
tinue with my first monitor. My heart 
sank into mv lioots. I had visions of 
staying in that class without rides, or 
with only rides and figlits, for months. 
I rode no more this morning, and what 
was my delight to find this evening that 
my bewhiskercd pal had left on feniiis- 
sioii. 

I got another monitor, a fine one, who 
l)ut his hands on the side of the machine 
and let me do everything, with a bit of 
assistance on the landing, which is difi^er- 
ent from wliat I've been doing on the 
Caudron. Seven rides and a finish — the 
2,vmeter tomorrow morning. 1 wasn't 
very good, but got l>v. 

Septeuilier 14, IQIJ. 
Things for me are going all right. 
Have made progress on the Xieuport 
since last I wrote and will lly alone soon. 
.•\s regards the I'. ?. .\rniy, things are at 
a standstill until 1 get to I'.-iris. which 
will be a week or so. 1 h<jpe to go to the 
front in a French Fscadrille and in an 
American uniform. Some say it cm be 
done: some that it cannot. It sounds so 
sensible that 1 am afraid there must be 
some regulation airainst it. 



TI11{ TRUCK S.\I.V.\GI':s TIIK WKICCK WHEN 
.\ I'Ul'lU "C.M'OTES" 

September 2y, igi/. 

Since last 1 wrote a regular letter, con- 
siderable has taken place. First, I am 
now at Pau, having finished up Avord. 
Have sent post-cards to father right 
along to keep track of movements. After 
lirexet was over, I did not take the cus- 
tomary permission of 48 hours, but went 
straight to work on Nieujiort D. C. 
( double command ) . ( )ne cannot learn a 
great deal riding with an instructor — only 
about enough to keep from smashing in 
landing, because one never knows when 
the instructor is messing with the con- 
trols, when it's one's self. 

There are five kinds of Xieuports — 
dift'ering mainly in size, the smaller being 
faster and more agile in the air, better 
adapted to eccentric flying. They are 28, 
23, 18, 13, 13 (the Baby Nieuport). At 
Avord I had about a week of D. C. on 
28 and 23 (the numbers refer to size of 
wings), with se\-eral days of no work. 
Then some days on 2}, alone, and finally 
on 18 alone. 

The landings are a bit dilTerent from 
those of the machines I had been flying, 
as they are faster, and the machines are 
quite nose-heavy. In the air the nose- 
heavy feature makes them "fly them- 
selves" — that is, according to the speed 
of the motor the machine will rise and 
climb or pique and descend, with never a 
touch from the jiilot. If the weather is 
not \ery bad. tin- Xieuport will correct 
itself automaticalh' from all displace- 
mt-nts. 

I'ut in landing the nose-heavy feature 
causes a great many capotages. If the 
landing isn't done about right with the 
tail low, over she goes on her nose or all 
the way onto her back. It is a very com- 
mon occurrence and has become almost 
a joke. When a pupil "capotes," every- 
l)ody kids him. No one hurries over to 
see if he is hurt: not at all He climbs 
out from under, usually cursing, and in 
ten minutes the truck is out to salvage 
the wreck. 

It is astounding the way smashes are 
taken as a matter of course, ^'esterday 
one oli;ip in landing hit ;niother machine. 





Iiy Ivlwin I.L ^ i<-'k 



A TRIO or l'I,AXi:S AT A TI;AIXIXG camp for A\'IATi)KS 

In tlic "air colleges," wliicli llie .nc'Mrninint has estaljlished recently , tlie tinie between 
matricnlation and graduation is measured in nmnths instead of years, luit it the period of 
education is shorter in these schools than in regular colleges the expense is in inverse ratio. 
A conservative estimate of the cost of training an aviator is from $10,000 to $-;o,ooo. <".reat 
tracts ('t land are required for ground schools; man.\- airplanes must he kept on hand, as the 
breakage is heavy, and repairs are often tedic.ius: nmtor trucks and mutnrcycles are neces- 
sary subsidiary equipment. 



(ieiiioli.shing both, but not touching either 
pilots, bei(;ig worth soine .? 15,000 or 
!?25,ooo. liut no one .seemed to worry — 
it's very much a matter of course. The 
monitor was a little peeved becatise he 
will l)e short of machines for a few days, 
bill that was all. Fee seen ;is many ,is 
ten machines flat on their backs, or with 
tails high in the air, on one field at the 
same time. 



For myself, I lia\ eii't ca[ioted or busted 
any wood since the lUeriot days, Init Fm 
knocking on the wooden t.ible ikav. ( )n 
several occasions it h;is been (inly luck 
ih.at saved me. as F\e m.ade in.in\' rntten 
landings, 

Weil, to .get back to the diary, .\fler 
tinisliing at .\yonl, I waited around for 
two days to get pajiers fixed ii]>, re- 
quested and obtained ;i pcyiiiixsidii, and 



98 



THE NATIONAL GK.OGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



then decided not to use it and left straiglit 
for I'au, after fond farewells to the 
friends I've been with for y/2 months, 
r^ooking back, I didn't have' such a bad 
time at Avord after all. though I did get 
terribly tired of the living conditions. 

DIFFICULTIES OF TRAVELING IN FRANCE 
IN WAR TIME 

My trip to Pan I put down to experi- 
ence. I discovered one schedule not to 
travel by in future. Leaving Avord at 
.^.15, I got to Bourges at 2.45 and found 
that the train left at 7.29. Fortunately, 
there was another chap from the school 
on the train, Arthur Blumenthal, an old 
Princeton football star, whom I have 
gotten to know ciuite well, so we man- 
aged to waste the afternoon together; 
almost made ourselves sick on candv and 
then ate ourselves stupid at the hotel at 
dinner time. 

At 7.29 I started another half-hour's 
journey, at the end of which the time- 
table said that the train for IJordeau.x 
left at 10.30 (this is all p. m.). At this 
town there were some American eno-i- 
neers. so I embraced the fellow-country- 
men in a strange land. Finished up a 
not very gay evening by attending the 
movies — a most odd institution. Clouds 
of tobacco smoke obscured the screen, 
and most of the action was around the' 
bar at one side of the hall. Nobody was 
drunk, but nearly every one was drink- 
ing and very gay. This was merely Sat- 
urday night in a small town of the prov- 
inces ; not in gay Parce. 

At 10.15 1 got in a first-class compart- 
ment and tried to find a comfortable po- 
sition in which to sleep. At 2.15 a. m. I 
had mussed u|) my clothes considerably, 
lost my temper and not slept a wink! 
Then we had to change again. The rest 
of the morning I sat opposite an .Amer- 
ican officer, a queer old foge\-, and we 
tried to kid each other into "thinking we 
were sleeping, with no success. Arrived 
at Bordeaux at 7 a. m. and found that 
the train for Pan left immediately, .so I 
missed out on breakfast, too— oh, 'it was 
a hectic trip. My idea of a very unpleas- 
ant occujiatinn is that of a traveling 
salesman in I'rance. '^ 



ni'AUTKUKI) WITH HEROES OF THE 

LAI■•A^■ i;tte escadrille 

Escadrille Spa-S^, 
Scctcitr Postal 181 
Par A. C. M.—Pa'ns. 
November i, i()ij. 
Well, I'm here— in sight of the from 
at last. To date I haven't been out there 
yet and won't for a few days more, as 
they take lots of care of new pilots and 
don't feed them to the Roche right away. 
Probably day after tomorrow the lieu- 
tenant in command will take me out to 
show me around the lines, and after that 
I'll take my place in oatrols with the 
others. 

The work is exclusively patrolling, 
establishing, as it were, a barrage against 
German machines and preventing as far 
as possible any incursions of the French 
lines. .Xs the big attack is over, there 
is com]iaratively little activity. Some- 
times one goes for a whole patrol with- 
out being fired on and without seeing an 
enemy machine anywhere near the lines. 
During the three days I've been here 
the group has accounted for several 
Boches without any losses whatever. 
Young Bridgeman, of the Lafayette Es- 
cadrille, had a bullet through his' fuselage 
just in front of his chest, but suffered no 
daniage except from fright. 

There are several escadrillcs in the 
group — a Croupe de Combat it is called ; 
all have Spads, which makes it very nice. 
The Lafayette, 124, is of our group and 
have adjoining barracks, which makes it 
very nice (I seem to repeat) for us lone 
y\mcncans in French Escadrille. We 
drop in there far too often and the first 
few nightsi used the bed of the famous 
Bill Thaw's room-mate, away on per- 
mission. 

Did I write you that one morning he 
brought in Whiskey to wake me up.'and 
my eyes no sooner opened than my head 
was buried under the covers. Whiskey 
IS a pet— a very large lion cub— which 
has unfortunately outgrown its utility as 
a jiet and was sent yesterday, with its 
running mate, Soda, to the zoo, at Paris, 
to l)e a regular lion. 

They are a very odd crowd— the mem- 
bers of the Lafayette Escadrille— a few 
nice ones and a bunch of rather rough- 






(r) r>r(.\vn S: Dawson 

Tui': Tvi'i'; oi" yavim; wiircn madi'. tim", ni^sr \ii; umds ox Paris 

This pl;iiK-. wlmsi' laitspread tail ami vnundcd wings su ^luscly rescinblc ilmsc of a Iiird, 
is too slow In contend with llic )MiS t\ pe nf IJ.S-niik-s-an-Iionr niarhiiK- which is now a cimi- 
monplaco ui tlic Western I- rent. I*^ is to the latest speedster warjilane what the "one-hmger" 
anti'niohilc of fifteen years ago is to the u-cylinder racer of today. This style airplane still 
has its uses in tlie a\iation schools, however. 



necks. I heir convcrstitioii is an c_\e- 
opener for a nc-w arrival. ^lostly ahuiit 
Paris, [icrmissions, ami the riw dr Hravi', 
hut occasionally ahotit w urk ami that is 
intcrcstin.<^. Xnnchalaiit dncsn't cxjircss 
it. Whcii Bridjjjy got shot up, as incn- 
lioncil .'iliovc, they all kidileil the life out 
of him, ami when he got the Croix cle 
fjuerre, thev had hint almost in tears — 
just liecause he's the kifhlahle kiml. 

But in talking ahout the wcirk. for in- 
stance, lim llall: "I piqmil <in him with 
full inutor ;ind got so darn close to him 



ill it when 1 w.iiited Ici open fire I \v.is so 
scared <if running into him tli.it I li.id to 
yank oiU of the way and so never lired 
a single ^h(jt." 

( 'r I.titlierry just mentions in passing 
that he got another lioche this niiirning. 

hut those ohserver jieople won't give 

him credit for it. 1 le has 14 oftlcial now 
.ami proh.ihly twice a> many more never 
.ilhiwed Iiim. ."^nme d.'us .ago during 
the alt.uk he h.id 7 figlits in one dav, 
hrottght down (, of them .and got credit 
lor one; which mtist lie discour.i'dii"-. 



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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



101 



SEASICK IX TIIU AIK 

Xovciiibcr IV, igij, 

Evciiuuj. 

You know November in France. I've 
been here almost two weeks now and am 
still a I'entrainment ; that is, I haven't 
started in to do any regular work yet. 
Only hve times have I been able to fly 
in two weeks. But I've got my own 
machine and mechanic, everything is in 
order, and I've been assigneil to a patrol 
the last two mornings when it rained. 

Tomorrow again at 8. 50 with four 
others — patrol for one hour .and tifty 
minutes at about 15,000 feet, back and 
forth o\-er our sector, sometimes over 
our own lines, sometimes in Bochie. I'm 
getting very impatient to get started. In 
what few flights I've had, I've been work- 
ing on acrobacy a bit and am gradually 
learning a few simple things ; twice I 
stayed up a little too long and had to he 
down a few hours afterward, almost sea- 
sick. 

I like Spa 84 very much indeed. The 
Frenchmen there are regular fellahs. 

Wertheimcr, a sergeant, is a sort of in- 
formal and unadmitted chief of the sous- 
ofpcicrs. It is he that speaks English anrl 
has hel])ed us a lot in getting settled, etc. 
\'erv nnich of a gentleman he is and 
understands a bit of Anglo-Saxon customs 
and eccentricities, always gay and an in- 
defatigable worker. 

We have all been arranging the one 
big room of our barracks — dining room, 
reading-room, and jiroljably eventually 
American b.ar. The walls are covered 
with green clnth, green paper (of two 
different shailes and neither quite the 
same as the cloth), red cloth (on top as 
a sort of frieze), and red paper. The 
ceiling is done in white cloth to keep in 
heat and lighten the room. A monumen- 
tal task it has been, especially as ma- 
terials are hard to get and expensive. 

FKD AMAZIXCLV FOR I-nl-R I-RAXCS A DAY 

W'ertem (as \\'ertlieimer is called) and 
Deborte have done most of the w^rk. 
Deborte is also chrf dc popotc. which 
means h()Usekee]H-r, and a very efficient 
man. For four francs per day we are 
fed amazinglv well. es]H'cially when one 
realizes that we are ne:ir the front in a 



countr)- which has had three years of 
war. Deborte hasn't the pleasantest man- 
ner in the world at times, but usually is 
very agreeable, willing to tell me things 
about flying or the escadrille, always 
ready to work, and a dependable man in 
the air. 

And Verber, who rooms with Wer- 
tem, he speaks a little English ; has a 
great deal of trouble understanding it, 
but is picking up ; wears a monocle all 
the time, because he's got a bum eye ; 
carries a stick, and has an extremely ec- 
centric appearance, but withal is very 
agreeable and a very valuable man. He 
has the habit of taking long trips all 
alone, far into Germany, just to see what 
is going on. 

Pinot is the name of the little roly- 
poly chap everybody calls Bul-Bul, whii 
used to be a mechanic and now is a very 
good, merry pilot. He has a great pen- 
chant towards Pinard, is violently but 
not at all objectionably non-aristocratic. 
is forever laughing or kidding some one, 
walks on his hands to amuse people, and 
is the delight of all the mecanos. 

Demeuldre is a very quiet sort of 
school-boy type, who has Iieen a pilot of 
])iplanes and reconnaissance machines for 
a long time. He came to the escadrille 
recently with a record of two Bodies as 
pilot of a biplane (that is, his machine- 
gun man did the shooting and they l)oth 
gel credit), and a few days ago bmught 
ddwn a German in flames, his first as 
piliit dc chasse. There are two others 
aw.iy on permission, whom I don't know 
yet. ' 

KSCAPI.VG DESTRfCTIOX r.V .\ MIRACLE 

Soiiirt^'luvc 111 Fniiicr. 
Not'ciJibcr jj, /o/,". 

Df.ar Father : Campbell was in the 
Lafayette Escadrille and they are a mem- 
Iier of the same group as Spa 84, so I 
have asked them about him. He was on 
a patrol with another chap ; they attacked 
some Boches and when it was over the 
other chap was alone. Campbell was 
i)rought down in (k-rman territory and 
so reported missing. I believe that the 
chap he was with has seen and talked to 
Campbell's father or some close rel.ative 
since. 




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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



103 



Another cliap named Bulkcly was 
brought down in similar circumstances 
about the first of September. Ten days 
ago, word was received from the Amer- 
ican Embassy that he had communicated 
with them, a prisoner in Germany. There 
are many similar cases, where men 
brought down with crippled machines or 
wounded, escape destruction by a miracle. 
The only sure thing is when a machine 
goes down in flames or is seen to lose 
a wing or two. 

For instance, there are two officers in 
the group who are in the best of health 
and daily working. Several months ago 
they were on patrol together ; collided in 
the air. One cut the tail rigging com- 
pletely off the other and they separated, 
one without a tail and the other with 
various parts of a tail mixed among the 
cables and struts of one side of his ma- 
chine. They both landed in France, one 
on his wheels, followed by a capotagc, or 
somersault turnover, the other quite com- 
pletely upside down. Then a term in 
the hospital and back they are again. 

THRILLING FEATS OF DARING 

Kenneth Marr, an American, had the 
commands of both his tail controls cut 
in a combat, the rudder and elevator, 
leaving him nothing but the aileron — the 
lateral balance control and the motor. 
He landed with only a skinned nose for 
casualties and got a decoration for it. 

Another chap in an attack on captive 
balloons, drachens, dove for something 
like 10,000 feet vertically and with full 
motor on, thereby gaining considerable 
speed, as you can imagine. He came 
right on top of the balloon, shot, and to 
keep from hitting it, yanked as roughly 
as he could, flattening out his dive in the 
merest fraction of a second. 

Imagine the strain on the machine! 
When he got home all the wires had sev- 
eral inches sag in them : the metal con- 
nections ot the cables into the struts and 
wood of the wings had bit into the wood 
enough to give the sag. 

Machines are built to stand immense 
pressure on the under side of the wings. 
In some acrobatic maneuvers I was try- 
ing the other day. I made mistakes and 
caused the machine to stall and then fall 



in such a way that the full weight was 
supported by the upper surface — by the 
wires, which in most machines are sup- 
posed merely to support the weight of 
the wings when the machine is on the 
ground. 

Yes, the Spad is a well-built machine — 
the nearest thing to perfection in point 
of strength, speed, and climbing power 
I'xe seen yet. Of course, it's heavy, and 
that's why they put 150 to 230 horse- 
power in them. The other school, that 
of a light machine with a light nidtor, 
depending for its success on lack of 
weight rather than excess of power, may 
supjilant the heavier machine in time; I 
can't tell. 

WIIKX DECORATIONS .\RE DESToWI-.D 

So, as any one who knows has said 
right along, there is a long way to go in 
the development of the J. N., or even the 
little triplane, before American - built 
planes get to the front. Of the liombing 
game I don't know anything at all. 

Yesterday there was a revue here in 
honor of Guynemer and decorations for 
the j)ilots of the group who had won 
them. Three Americans received the 
Croix de Guerre — members of the La- 
fayette Escadrille. Lufbery, the Amer- 
ican ace, carried the American flag pre- 
sented to the escadrille by Mrs. jMcAdoo 
and the employees of the Treasury De- 
])artnient, beside the two aviation em- 
blems of France. 

!Ie was called to receive his decoration 
"for having in the course of one day 
held seven combats ; descended one Ger- 
man ])lane in flames and forced five 
others to land behind their lines" (which 
means that he is officially credited with 
one, his thirteenth, and that the other 
five, though probably brought down, do 
not count for him because there were not 
the necessary witnesses required by the 
French regulation). 

Being the bearer of the flag, he was a 
very worried man to know what to flo 
with the flag when he should go u]) to 
get his medal, till one of the fellows in 
124 (the Lafayette) came to his rescue. 
For a military revue it was decidedly 
amusing. Aviators are not very militarv. 

The chief of one of the escadrille was 



10-1 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MA(; \ZINE 



commissioned to command tiic mechanics 
who are plain soldiers, with rifles and 
steel helmets for the occasion. He is a 
bit of a clown and amused the entire 
gathering, kidding with the officers. The 
pilots of each of the five escadrilles were 
m more or less formation ; most of them 
with hands in their pockets, for it was 
cliilly, and presenting a mixture of uni- 
forms unparalleled in its heterogeneity : 
every branch of the service represented 
and endless personal ideas in dress. 

Because of the occasion, repos has been 
granted to the entire group for the after- 
noon, another group taking over our 
patrols : so that after the revue every one 
had the afternoon to waste — a sunny day. 
whi(-h is quite unusual this month. 
Within a half hour every machine that 
was in working order was in the air. 
forming into groups and then off for the 
lines, just looking for trouble — voluntary 
patrol they call it — which opened my eyes 
a bit to the spirit in the French aviation 
service after three years of war. 

\\'ord from Paris that those .Ameri- 
cans in the French service w'ho have de- 
manded their release to join the U. S. A. 
have obtained that release, which prob- 
ably means that all we wait for now 
. . . on the commissions. 

This afternoon I took another trip w-ith 
one of the old pilots to look over the sec- 
tor. We stayed over France and didn't 
get into trouble, although there were lots 
of Boches around. Hope to get really 
started soon. 

An amusing one this morning: Two 
pilots from the group were on patrol and 
attacked a single German about two kilo- 
meters behind the German lines. They 
completely outmaneuvered him ; he got 
cold feet and started for the French lines, 
giving himself up. The funniest part 
about it is that the machine gun of one of 
the attackers was jammed and he couldn't 
possibly have hurt the Hoche — just had 
the nerve to stay and throw a bluff. 

Tliev came back to camp just before 
dark tliis evening, one of them flying tlie 
German machine and the other guarding 
him in a Spad. The machine is an .Alba- 
tross monojilane (biplane), finished in 
silver, with l)ig blade crosses on tlie wings 
and tail — a really beautiful thing. It Hew 



around camp for several minutes before 
landing. It is the second machine that 
has been scared down since I've been out 
here. 

A MIMIC COMDAT IN THE AIR 

.It the Front, 

Somcidiere in France, 
November ij, igij. 

.\t present things are hopelessly slow 
on account of bad weather, so I have a 
good deal of time to write and naught to 
write of. I still am waiting for my bap- 
tism of active service, which is assigned 
for each day and held up on account of 
fog, low clouds, or rain. In the after- 
noon it usually lifts a little, not enough 
to fly o\er the lines, but sufficient to per- 
mit a little vol d'cntraiument — a practice 
flight around the field. I've been taking 
every chance to learn to fly — practicing 
reversements, vertically banked turns, 90- 
degree nose dives, etc. 

Two days ago we had a very interest- 
ing mimic combat in the air. The Boche 
machine, which has been captured, and a 
Spad, both driven by very clever pilots, 
maneuvered for position during 15 or 20 
minutes at i.ooo feet or less, back and 
forth over the field, doing almost everv 
possible thing in the air — changing direc- 
tion with incredible rapidity, diving, 
climbing, wing - slipping, upside - down 
dives — everything under the sun. 

Two of them were at it again today in 
two vSjiads — just maneuvering. What a 
lot there is to learn ! \\'hen I got through 
acrobacy at Pan, I had the impression 
tiiat that kind of stuff was relati\ely 
easy : now I know dift'erent. For the 
present I'm working on the system of try 
one thing at a time ; get that fairly well 
and then commence another. And small 
doses — 10 or 15 minutes for an acrobatic 
flight: not more — because one can easily 
get dangerously sick in a very short time. 
Not that there is anv particular peril in 
getting ill in the air : only it's beastly 
uncomfortable. 

RATHER GET A BOCHE THAN' A COMMISSION 

At the Front. 
Souiczi'hcrc in France, 
November jo, ipT~. 
The rumor at the Lafayette Fscadrille 




this evenint; is that thi;y h.i\e been at 
last transfci-rciL Of course, the\- had 
similar rumors nianv times betore For 
ni\sel£ 1 am becoming;' rather imhlTerent: 
ver\' weU satisfied here, except for 
weatlier, .iml gettinL,^ what I came over 
here 1 or 

I'ather mentioneil sumethiui; about a 
nioiiitur's jiib (after I had had experience 
at the frontj. Aly present inchnation is 
decidedly against the idea. There is no 
job in the world I like less to think of. 
an<l there are ])lenty of people who want 
to get comfortably settled in the rear; so 
let them, say I, and may the\ enjoy it. 
It IS not a vei\v ]ileasant job. 

.\s a retirement after a jieriod ol serv- 
ice at the fr<inl, it is another m.itter. Uf 



all peiiple 1 can think' of 1 have the sui.ill- 
est right to An aiiihiissc ji ilj at [ne^t iit , 
so here I hnpe to stay. Whether 1 tly 
with an Ainericaii or French unifurni, 1 
don't care \er\- much at the ]5resent mo- 
ment. I had r.atlier get a Iloche th.an any 
commission in the arinv ; but one cannot 
alw.ays tell about the future; [lerh.aps 
after a few gdnd scares I'll be re.idv to 
jump at a niunitur's ii)b. 

Tin; sTi<i;x("/rii oi" .\ si'ad 

.11 Ihc I'yuut. 

iK-ccuibci- J. U)l~. 

I tried to give \('U all some idea of the 

strength of a Spad in a lelti'r a while ago. 

.\t home people spe.ik uf a fai'tor of 

safetv, meaning the luiniber nf times 



106 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



stronger the machine is than is necessary 
for plain Hying. The Spad is made so 
tliat a man can't burst it, no matter what 
he docs in the air — dive as far and as 
fast as he can and stop as brutally as he 
can, it stands the racket. Of course, 
motors do stop, and if it happens over a 
mountain range — well, that's just hard 
luck. 

Have had a few patrols since last I 
wrote ; one at a big height, 4,000 to 4,500 
meters, considerably above the clouds, 
which almost shut out the ground below, 
a wonderfully beautiful sight, but beastly 
cold, and a couple when the clouds were 
low and solid. The patrol stays at just 
the height of the clouds, hiding in them 
and slipping out again to look around. 

If it stays below, the enemy anti-air- 
craft guns pepper it, whenever near the 
lines and at a low altitude, that is rather 
awkward ; so the patrol shows itself as 
little as possible. 

It's lots of sport to try to keep with 
the patrol ; be behind the chief of patrol, 
see him disappear and then bump into 
a fog bank, a low-hanging cloud, and not 
see a darn thing; then dive down out of 
the cloud, wondering whether the other 
guy is right underneath or not ; shoot 
out of the cloud and see him, maybe 500 
yards away, going at right angles ; then 
bank up and turn around fast and give 
her the gear full speed to catch up, and so 
on ; see a Boche regulating artillery fire, 
start to maneuver into range, and zip ! 
he's out of sight in the clouds, and the 
next you see he is beating it far back of 
his lines. Not very dangerous this 
weather, but lots of fun. 

Chalous sitr Manic. 
December S, ipi~. 
Yesterday we were awakened at 6 and 
told that we were going to move out, bag 
and baggage, at 2. So, as new barracks 
were not ready, we came down here last 
nisjht and have been seeinir the sii/hts of 



the town since. It is full of Americans, 
ambulances, doctors, Y. M. C. A. work- 
ers, everything but fighting men, which 
I trust we'll see before long. 



THE L.AST FLIGHT 

On December 12, while on patrol, B. 
Stuart Walcott met a German biplane 
carrying two men. Three cable reports 
agree that he shot down and destrovcd 
this machine about two and a half miles 
within the German lines. He then started 
back for the French lines and was over- 
taken by three Albatross German planes. 
He was overcome and his machine went 
down in a nose dive within the German 
lines, it being assumed that either he was 
shot or his machine disabled. 

There was still a hope that he might 
have escaped death. Inquiries were at 
once instituted through the American Red 
Cross and the International Red Cross, 
with the result that on Januarv 7 a cable 
came from the International Red Cross 
stating that it was reported in Germany 
that S. Walcott was brought down dur- 
ing the afternoon of December 12 near 
Saint Souplet. and that he was killed bv 
the fall. 

On January 11 the French Government 
awarded the Croix de Guerre to the fallen 
flyer, with the accompanying citation : 

"Corporal Walcott, an American, who 
volunteered for the duration of the war, 
and a young pilot of admirable spirit 
and courage, on December 12, 191 7. at- 
tacked an enemy airplane. He pursued it 
four kilometers behind the German lines, 
where he brought it down. He was in 
turn attacked by three other monoplanes 
and was driven down." 

The medal was received on his behalf 
by members of his squadron and has been 
forwarded to his father. Dr. Charles D. 
\\'alcott. Secretary of the Smithsonian 
Institution, Washington. 




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IIIK IKhNCH AVUriON I'll, 111 ItAPI.! AlinVI. 
AM) CKOIX 1)1 Kl'KRKt Ul I H ONI I'M M, \ WXR IH.Il . Td 

BF.NIAMIN >'n]ARl' WAIXOIT 



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